Slow and Risky to Safe and Briskly: Modern Implementation of Whole Blood

Andrew D Fisher, Ethan A Miles, Stacy Shackelford

J Spec Oper Med Spring 2020;20(1):21-25.

Saving lives on the battlefield goes beyond eliminating what is currently considered preventable deaths and encompasses the treatment of potentially survivable injuries. Eliminating potentially preventable deaths is a driving force for identifying and implementing advanced treatment strategies. Potentially survivable injuries present a difficult challenge to the combat medic, because noncompressible torso hemorrhage (NCTH) can be particularly complex to treat.

Without timely surgical care, many casualties in the potentially survivable category will die because immediate evacuation is not always possible. Therefore, the focus of training and treatment should be on eliminating preventable death and the management of potentially survivable injuries through damage control resuscitation (DCR) and advancing treatment for NCTH.

The lessons learned from prior wars continue to be relevant as we adapt them to today’s conflicts. We must seek evolving technological material solutions as well as techniques from the past and future to save lives. As the TCCC community, we must not forget to continue to master the basics and eliminate preventable death while we push on toward saving the potentially survivable.